Like Creator, Like Creation
by Irhaboggles
Summary: Dawn has always been a rather lonely girl, so when she gains the power to bring her dreams to life, she wastes no time in bringing her one and only companion to life in order to fill that void in her heart. What happens, though, when she grows tired of him and casts him off? How will he cope with his newfound loneliness? Turns out, he's more like Dawn than anyone ever thought.


For all of her life, Dawn had been a very sad, lonely, miserable individual. With a physically absent mother and an emotionally absent father and no friends to call her own, Dawn had grown up in isolation. Her one and only consolation came in the form of a fluffy pink teddy bear she had named Mr. Snuggles. She'd had him all her life and he had been the only one to ever truly stick by her. He never deserted her, he never ignored her, he always listened to everything she had to say, and he always gave her exactly what she wanted. Just like a real best friend would!

So let Mommy run away from the family, let Daddy spend all of his time in jail or in a corner office. Let all the schoolchildren call Dawn a bully and let all the teachers try and agree. What did she care for any of them? Just as long as she had her loyal, devoted, constant companion, Mr. Snuggles, she didn't care what anyone else in the entire world thought about her.

"Wow, you're just the best, Dawn! You're absolutely the greatest!" Dawn lowered her voice and pretended to be Mr. Snuggles, clapping for her as she showed off her newest dress for him.

"Awww, thank you, you're too kind!" she giggled, voice returning to normal for a moment.

"Nonsense!" she said again, but going back to her deeper "Mr. Snuggles" voice. "You deserve absolutely every bit of praise I give you! You are perfect! A wonder! A miracle! A beautiful, beautiful princess! Anyone with eyes can see that!"

"Awwww," Dawn blushed again as she continued to make Mr. Snuggles praise her.

Such behavior carried on for years. Mr. Snuggles became the only thing that Dawn treated with any measure of respect, and he always went along with all of her schemes. Every little plot and plan she had, he followed without a second thought, and followed to the letter. Every last thing she told him, he listened to and agreed with, always. She could do no wrong in his eyes and that was why she loved him.

A couple years later, then, Dawn found herself with the power to bring her wildest dreams to life. After an accident in the lab of a mean old professor who hadn't wanted to play with her, Dawn found herself blessed with the ability to do pretty much whatever she wanted. She turned her house into a literal castle, turned her little schoolgirl dress into a real princess' ball gown, and brought all of her girly toys to life, creating an entire kingdom that she could rule. Mr. Snuggles quickly became her prince consort.

"Wow, you're just the best, Dawn! You're absolutely the greatest!" Mr. Snuggles fawned as Dawn used her powers to turn the flowers outside into pieces of giant candy.

"Awww, thank you, you're too kind!" Dawn giggled as some of her other sentient toys raced outside to munch on the confections.

"Nonsense!" Mr. Snuggles replied valiantly, bowing down to Princess Dawn. "You deserve absolutely every bit of praise I give you! You are perfect! A wonder! A miracle! A beautiful, beautiful princess! Anyone with eyes can see that!"

"Awwww," Dawn blushed again as Mr. Snuggles continued to praise her. He had, by far, been her favorite creation. Bringing him to life had been the best thing that she'd ever done and it was almost enough to make her want to thank the professor for giving her such power. Almost.

But fast forward a few more years and Dawn's ability had turned sour. She went dark and cold as she grew up and hit puberty. In an effort to appear more mature and grown up, she threw away all of her old things, Mr. Snuggles included. Naturally, he had not taken such rejection lightly. Instead, he saw Dawn's rejection of him to be the highest form of betrayal, and it was an unspeakable, unforgivable crime in his eyes.

"We used to be best friends, Dawn!" Mr. Snuggles roared at her. He had since stolen the magical tiara that had given Dawn her princess powers to being with. At the moment, he was hovering outside her bedroom window and yelling in at her from it.

"Used to!" Dawn shot back with a cold scoff, reclining in a black chair in her black room, rolling her dark eyes at him as he continued to whine.

"Well then what happened, Dawn? Eh?" Mr. Snuggles continued to growl. "What happened to suddenly make you so cold and mean?"

"I am not cold and mean!" Dawn argued, crossing her arms. "I am a teenager!"

"No, you're a monster. Why won't you go back to normal and PLAY WITH ME?!" Mr. Snuggles finally lost his temper and began to pound the side of Dawn's house like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Oh, grow up, will you?" Dawn spat at him, flicking her long black tresses at him in annoyance. Even though the tiara was what had given Dawn a majority of her powers, some of that power had seeped into her very genetic code, so she was still able to amplify her identity and bring it to life in a very physical way. As a result, that flick of her long black hair created something of a shockwave and a beam of dark energy struck Mr. Snuggles square in the chest and sent him flying backward, far away from Dawn's new, darkened, gothic mansion.

"Why you little-" Mr. Snuggles growled once he hit the ground with a deafening thud. He grit his teeth in pure anger, eyes flashing. That was it! If Dawn didn't want to play with him, then he would find someone else who did! He didn't need her! He could make his own friends! Two could play at this game! So go ahead, let Dawn be all nasty and broody! Mr. Snuggles could do just fine without her! He'd find someone nicer! Someone who always listened to everything he said and never, ever, even though about leaving him!

As the giant pink bear got to his feet and looked around, brushing himself off, his eyes fell upon a small teddy bear still resting tightly inside the arms of its owner. A lightbulb went on inside of Mr. Snuggles' head. Without any sort of respect or regard to the bear, or its owner, he sent out a blast of red energy from Dawn's tiara and, five seconds later, the tiny little plushie had begun to growl angrily.

"Mrs. Dance-A-Lot?" the owner whimpered as his teddy suddenly began to wriggle violently around in his arms.

"Let... go!" she growled back at him, voice rough with anger and disgust.

"But... What?... I don't understand?" he held Mrs. Dance-A-Lot out at arm's length as she continued to swipe and bite at him.

At last, she wriggled free of his arms and the moment she hit the ground, she went racing over to Mr. Snuggles.

"Mrs. Dance-A-Lot?" the boy in question sounded like he was about to cry. Mr. Snuggles watched with satisfaction, scooping up Mrs. Dance-A-Lot with a grim smile. He laughed a little, hoping that the boy would actually start crying. That would be funny! Meanwhile, Mrs. Dance-A-Lot had turned back on her owner and she blew a raspberry at him. That was what sent him over the edge. As he began to bawl, the two teddy bears laughed and pointed at him. Mr. Snuggles had never felt so powerful or alive!

A week later, nearly every toy in London had become Mr. Snuggles' friend. He created each and every last one of them, bringing them to life and blessing them with a personality and a mind. Each of them woke up in the arms of their children, but thanks to what Mr. Snuggles had done, they saw the children as captors instead of friends. A rebellion began, pitting toys on humans, and Mr. Snuggles was the toy army general.

"But- but- she was mine!" one little girl pointed at the stuffed cat Mr. Snuggles had taken from her.

"Was," he replied callously, and then when the little girl tried to pet her cat again, the cat hissed viciously at her. This sent the girl into hysterics, but Mr. Snuggles only shrugged and kept on moving through the city streets without a care in the world.

Like creator, like creation. In the same way Dawn had used her personality-amplifying power to bring her fantasies to life and project her own thoughts and feelings onto the rest of the world, so did Mr. Snuggles. With Dawn's power now in his paws, he made the exact same mistake she had, coping with loneliness not through maturity, intelligence and understanding, but by bringing other creatures to life to share his pain. Every toy Mr. Snuggles brought to life existed only to serve him. They were alive, but they had little mind outside of what Mr. Snuggles gave them when he first brought them to life. They could think and feel, but only in terms of bitterness and resentment. In the same way Dawn had created Mr. Snuggles to give her validation and affirmation, Mr. Snuggles had created this toy army to express his anger and sorrow. As such, the toys inherited a violent and hateful personality. How could they be creatures of gentleness and love if their creator was a monster? How could they be good when they had come from evil? Thus began Mr. Snuggles fluffy reign of pink terror.

But even he was not totally to blame. Like creator, like creation. If the only reason his toy army was so flawed was because he, himself, was flawed, then what did this say about Dawn? She had created him, after all. He was only ever a product of her own selfish, twisted, insecure and childish mind. Of course he, too, would have very poor coping skills. He could not progress beyond the parameters set for him by his creator. His creator had created him in a time of great sorrow in her life. As such, Mr. Snuggles was a product of insecurity and defensiveness. He had inherited Dawn's unpleasant trait of always wanting someone to play with, and always wanting someone to worship her. Dawn hadn't just created Mr. Snuggles as a friend. She'd also created him to act as an admirer and follower, who did everything she asked. Now Mr. Snuggles was in the same boat, just as spiteful, unempathetic and attention-hungry as his creator had been. As such, his own creations were just as hollow-hearted and shallow-minded, created solely to give him validation and worship in the same way he used to give Dawn validation and worship.

But as twisted as Mr. Snuggles' own creator had been, underneath that incessant need for worship, praise, affection, attention and validation, there had been a genuine desire for friendship and love. Dawn had not totally created a slave when she brought Mr. Snuggles to life. She did genuinely care about him, and how he felt, and there were times when she really did treat him as his own separate entity, and not just a plaything that existed solely to keep her entertained. Those more selfless, compassionate and sincere traits bled down into Mr. Snuggles and even when he was going on a rampage, there had always been a grain of goodness within him. It manifested first in one of his own creations, a blue bear named Bernard. After his own owner had selflessly risked his life to save him, Bernard's natural-born anger faded away and the love between himself and his creator was enough to overcome the hatred that had first brought him to life.

"I can learn to live without you," his owner promised, though it was clear that these words were hard to say. In response, Bernard had opened his fluffy arms back up and willingly went back to his human friend. Dawn and Mr. Snuggles had both seen that display. Mr. Snuggles was the first to switch back, the better side of his heart shining through.

"I'm sorry I was so angry," he finally admitted, tears in his button eyes as he said as such.

"Me too!" Dawn was the next to crumble, apologizing just as tearfully.

Like creator, like creation. As flawed as Dawn was, she had created Mr. Snuggles with relatively good intentions and had cared for him with a relatively sincere heart. As such, Mr. Snuggles had that same inkling of compassion, selflessness and self-awareness. When both of their good sides came out, it didn't take long for them to reach a new understanding and forgive one another of all of their past transgressions. And all of it was thanks to Mr. Snuggles' own creation, who had managed to unlock his own good side and, inadvertently, teach Dawn and Mr. Snuggles how to do the same. All of them had been born in a cruel world, but all of them had been created in good faith. As such, all of them managed to have at least a little bit of goodness within them, and that was all that was indeed in order to set everything right once again.

**AN: Thank you Zarius for inspiring me to write this! You rock! Consider it an extension off of the review I left you on "Up From the Bed on the River" (which is really the fic that inspired me to write this, and I am thankful to know that I inspired you to write it. I think we're just going to start bouncing off of one another, am I right? LOL).**

**But for all those who read this and are slightly confused, it's just me overanalyzing Dawn and Snuggles (again). In short, I have it in mind that the reason that Snuggles has the personality that he does is because Dawn created him and, thusly, he turned out exactly like how she wanted him to be (ever at her side, and always a willing accomplice in her schemes). But, inadvertently, he also inherited a lot of her bad traits (such as her whininess, meanness, selfishness and neediness). So, when he took her crown in "Dark Dawn" and began creating a toy army, he was just acting out in a way that Dawn, herself, sort of already had done when she created HIM. It's like an endless cycle of a broken creator creating a broken creation which, in turn, makes more broken creations. **

**But at the same time, Dawn's intentions hadn't been totally bad when she created Snuggles, which is why they were able to reconcile at the end of the episode after watching that little exchange between Penfold and Bernard (and the reason Bernard was able to go from evil to good even though he was still under Snuggles' control is because there was a bit of goodness and desire for reconciliation in Snuggles all along. So even though Bernard had been created as a weapon, he still had a bit of Snuggles' goodness inside of him, leading to his own reconciliation with Penfold, which inspired Snuggles to do likewise in a positive domino effect. And as such, Snuggles got his own desire for reconciliation from Dawn, who had only ever even made him in the first place because she was lonely. Not just because she was some whack-job little tyrant).**

**Jeez, sorry that was such a long, complicated mouthful. And sorry I'm looking too deeply into all of this. I just really REALLY like the "Dark Dawn" episode. It got me thinking SOOOO much, as you can see. LOL. I could make a LONG list of Dawn & Snuggles cute moments...**


End file.
